Vet helps vets get jobs

Gregory C.P. Matte, national executive director of Helmets to Hardhats, is seen in front of a construction site on Queen Street in Halifax on Thursday. (TIM KROCHAK/Staff)

A former Canadian air force top gun from Nova Scotia is helping military veterans land skilled civilian construction jobs.

“This is providing our deserving vets a terrific career opportunity — not just a job, but a career opportunity — to build the country they defended overseas and to add to their community, one project at a time,” said retired brigadier-general Gregory Matte, a native of Kingston, Kings County, in an interview Thursday in Halifax.

Matte, former task force commander for all Canadian flying operations in the Balkans, is the executive director of Helmets to Hardhats Canada, a non-profit program established two years ago that helps veterans get training and jobs in the building and construction sector.

The program, largely funded by private industry and building and construction trade unions, grew out of a similar initiative established 12 years ago in the United States by Joe Maloney, a trade unionist from Canada, said Matte, who spoke on the program Thursday at the conference of Mainland Building Trades.

“The whole idea was that they had a shortage of skilled workers in the building construction industry in America and at the same time they were seeing a lot of veterans coming back from the Iraq invasion and different missions,” Matte said.

“They were scratching their heads, wondering how could

they match the veterans to the work required because they knew the vets had with them the

discipline, the work ethic, the team effort that would come together naturally.”

Matte said the national program has placed more than 400 Canadian veterans in trades to date, most in larger economic centres such as Toronto, Alberta and British Columbia.

“We haven’t had as much of a presence in Nova Scotia thus far, simply because the economy isn’t quite as demanding for skilled labour, but we’ve been present from province to province to territories for the past 24 months,” he said.

Matte said working with organizations such as Mainland Building Trades, which represents 11,000 Nova Scotia tradespeople in the industrial-commercial-institutional sector, gives veterans a tremendous opportunity to gain valuable training.

“Regardless of what the military vet has in the way of previous military training, they are given an opportunity to get all the training required to become a journeyperson in one of 60 different trades.”

Mainland Building Trades executive director Brad Smith said his organization was happy to be involved in the Helmets to Hardhats Canada initiative.

“Nova Scotia is a military community, and it’s really, really important to support the vets,” he said, noting that CFB Halifax, with more than 10,000 personnel, is the largest military base in Canada.

Smith said many military skills are transferable to professional trades, and his organization can help vets make that transition through training and apprenticeships.

“At some point, we’re going to need those skilled trades so it’s a recruitment opportunity as well.”

Matte said regional economic projects such as the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the Canada East Pipeline have the potential to allow veterans to retire in the Maritimes and enjoy new careers.

“It’s a pleasure to strengthen the relationship between the Helmets to Hardhats program and the local building trades organizations so as to be well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities,” he said.

Capt. Angus Topshee, base commander at CFB Halifax, said the Helmets to Hardhats program offers veterans rewarding career opportunities.

“To have a program dedicated exclusively to Canadian Forces members making the transition from active duty to full-time employment is absolutely wonderful,” he said.